II: Xena Alone
Xena Normally, I would have incinerated these three by now, but I was way too drunk to even stand up straight. Tough lesson learned. I guess alcohol is one of my weaknesses. When they found a dark alley, they threw me on the ground. I couldn’t stand up, so I flailed my arms around, hoping to hit one of them. I scratched one of them in the face. I knew it was a solid hit because he was bleeding a lot. He didn’t like that very much. He punched me very hard afterwards, but instead of reeling backwards, I threw up on him. He was so disgusted that he didn’t even hit me again. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the other two from pinning me down. It looked like they would give the guy I threw up on the first turn. I tried to tell him not to rape me, but all that came out was sloppy gibberish. Ashamed at the mess I had become, I finally gave up. I let all three do the unthinkable. However, if they wanted to break me, then they failed. Nothing can break what’s already broken. I always thought that being violated would be a traumatizing experience. It kind of shocked me because I felt nothing. Even when they were being too rough. Even when they were just tossing me around like a rag doll. I felt nothing. Whatever made me who I was, that strong independent girl who was afraid of nothing, was it gone now? I guess that I blacked during the whole fiasco, because I woke up the middle of the next day in that same alley. My clothes and hair were a mess. I didn’t really know what to do with myself, and I was really hung over. I stumbled out of the alley. When the sunlight first hit me, I felt like my eyes were being stabbed by knives of fire. I had no clue where I was. I only had a slight idea of the general area. Obviously, I was in New York City, but the city is pretty freaking huge. The huge crowds didn’t help me out at all either. Whenever I tried asking for directions, people just shoved me out of the way. I guess no one recognized that I was the Avatar. I wandered the city for hours, but I still couldn’t gain my bearings. I knew I was completely lost when I passed the same building five times. I was getting nowhere, so I went to another bar. This time, I didn’t have a single drink. I just sat there, alone, for what felt like weeks. I wished that Amber was there with me, but I knew that was a pipe dream. I was an idiot for leaving her by herself like that. She was just trying to help me, and I pushed her away. Some friend I was. Through a major twist of bad luck, the same three guys that violated me earlier walked into the bar. I tried to look away, but one of them recognized me. Having bright blue hair isn’t the best way to conceal your identity. “Hey guys, look. It’s that broad,” one of them said. “Looks like she’s ready for round 2,” another snickered. All three of them started laughing, and they approached my table. I figured that if I attracted a lot of attention to myself, then they would go away. I looked around. There were only three other people in the bar: two young men sitting on the other side of the store, and the bartender. They weren’t going to help me out at all. I had to get out of this mess myself. “Look guys, I’m having a rough day. Just go away, and no one has to get hurt,” I said. They obviously didn’t take my threat seriously. “You ain’t in the position to be giving us orders missy. That is, unless you’re telling us how you want it,” he teased. At that point, I had enough already. I stood up, and I looked them right in the eyes. The bartender started to notice something was off. “Now look, you four. I don’t know what the beef between you all is. But whatever it is, take it outside,” he said nervously. I glared at them. “Well, after you guys. Unless you want me to force you out.” “Oooh, I love a woman who thinks she can kick my ass,” one of the said. We all exited the bar together, and we found an open area not too far away. I normally had reservations about using my powers against normal people, but for these idiots, I made an exception. They took advantage of me when I was down, and I won’t let them get away with it. “So, which one of you lovely gentlemen do I get to beat first?” I said while cracking my knuckles. The shortest guy in their group approached first. “I’ll take you on. You don’t look so tough.” He charged me, but I easily dodged his first punch. His fighting style was very poor. He clearly had no prior training. He kept punching and kicking, but I easily dodged each blow. I allowed him to keep trying until he tired himself out. Then, when his guard was lowered, I kicked him in the stomach. When he leaned over in pain, I connected an uppercut to his jaw. That knocked him out cold. The second guy took me much more seriously. He attacked me relentlessly, and I actually had to block his hits. Still, he was very easy to handle. At least he was until he took out a pocket knife. I didn’t notice that he had it until after he sliced a big cut into my arm. Healing that wound wouldn’t have been difficult, but I needed a calm environment to do it. Here, he would cut my head off before I could heal a paper cut. Even with his knife, he still struggled to land a hit on me. With the amount of training I received, dodging his hits were still a piece of cake. Eventually, I saw an opening in his defense, and I kicked his hand. He let go of his knife, and then I grabbed it in midair. I was about to throw the knife into his leg, but then I heard a gunshot. Then, a sharp pain shot through my back, and I fell to the ground. I completely forgot about the third guy, and he must have come strapped. I could feel my back getting soaked in blood. The remaining two guys were looking to finish off what they started. “You see, what’d I tell ya? It’s always more fun when they put up a fight first. It gets the blood pumping,” one of them snarled. I could feel them run their hands all over me, but I was too stunned from the pain to stop them. I thought it was going to happen again. But then, I heard more gunshots, and the two men dropped dead. I looked up to see who my savior was. It turned out, I had two saviors. They were the same two young men from the bar I was in earlier. They rushed over to me. “This doesn’t look good bro,” one of them said. “She’s lost a lot of blood. I don’t think she’ll make it to a hospital.” “Let’s take her back to our apartment. Maybe something there can help ease her pain,” the other said. I couldn’t stay awake because of all the blood I lost, and I passed out. Next time on 13th Redux... Category:Chapters